Q&A with Christo Bilukidi

A: Kind of … It really didn’t because up from the All-Star game I really did what I needed to do to show a lot of these scouts that I can play at a higher level. From my pro day, all my measurables that I tested were really good. All these teams already were calling me and I had a really good feeling about it. It wasn’t a big surprise to me.

Q: Lots of contact from Raiders?

A: I went on a visit, they brought me on a visit. They were calling me, D-line coach was talking to me. I had a lot of contacts with them.

Q: Any idea whether they plan to keep you inside or more you outside?

A: I’ll play anywhere. They haven’t really specified where I would be playing as a tackle or end. I told them, like in college I’ve been playing everywhere from zero technique all the way wide nine technique. I’ll play anywhere.

Q: What got you started playing football?

A: It was actually one of my best friends back here in Ottawa. He played actually in the CFL for the Toronto Argonauts. I was always a basketball player and he asked me if I wanted to play football my senior year in high school. I started playing and started liking it.

Q: What do you like about it?

A: Contact. It’s not like basketball. Basketball is physical but football is just another game and it’s more physical. The whole contact about it, just hitting people, that’s what I like to do.

Which parts of your game do you need to work on right now?

Staying low. Obviously, a tall guy like me, about 6-4½, playing on the D-line, just being as low as I can, because it’s always like every coach says, ‘lowest man wins.’ So that’s really the only aspect I think I need to work on, and obviously with coaches like on the Raiders, with so much experience, they’ll teach me how to play low and get leverage on people and just dominate.

Is your father still a diplomat?

I don’t have contact with him, so I can’t even tell you.

You moved around a lot as a kid. Was that difficult and in what ways did it shape your character?

It made me cultured because I lived in so many different cities and countries and stuff. So definitely just opens my mind more, because I learn more about different people, and just makes me more humble, and makes me appreciate people far more than if someone just lived in like a little small city and didn’t know what was going on around the world, so yeah.

How much of a challenge is the step up in competition going to be for you?

It’s gonna be a challenge just like for everybody else that’s come into the NFL. It’s not college, and it’s not high school anymore. Like one coach told me, you’ve got to throw away everything you learned in college and then come and grasp everything you learn in the NFL. So it’s gonna be difficult these couple, few weeks, because I’ve just got to adjust to it. But after that, I’m a smart person, I’m very bright, I learn very fast, so I’m not too worried about the whole transition to the NFL.

You don’t fee like you’re starting a guy behind, say, a guy from a SEC school?

See, I would say that would be the case, because I went to a small school, Georgia State, and it’s a brand-new program. So our coaching staff was very young, as compared with an SEC program where they have coaches that have long experience. But to me, because of my athleticism and my height and my size, I’ll be able to do whatever anybody else on the D-line is doing, because like I said, I’m a fast learner and I’m athletic at the same time.

Are you the first Georgia State player to be drafted?

First Georgia State ever to be drafted, yessir.

How does that feel?

Feels great. Like I’ve been on-line with you guys, my coach has been calling me. Waiting for an answer, but I bet they’re real proud of me. Definitely feels really good.